The present disclosure relates to apparatus for mounting and cooling computer circuit card assemblies, and more particularly, to a card guide heat sink that adapts one or more circuit card assemblies into a larger form factor VITA-compliant rack.
The VITA computer bus standard establishes a protocol for Versa Module Europa (VME) bus-based systems. Also known as the VME International Trade Association (VITA)-46 American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard, the VITA standard supports VME and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) circuit card assemblies in a range of form factors including 3U, 6U, and 9U. A computer system can typically consist of a rack enclosure that accommodates circuit card assemblies of a specified size (e.g., 6U, to accommodate 233 mm×160 mm circuit card assemblies). It can be beneficial to accommodate either one or two smaller circuit card assemblies (e.g., 3U, 100 mm×160 mm circuit card assemblies) into the larger space, while also providing physical support for the smaller circuit card assemblies. During operation, circuit card assemblies can generate heat that must be removed by the use of heat sinks and the like. Adapters have been developed to achieve the goal of mounting one or two 3U circuit card assemblies in a 6U rack space. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,580,616, to Greenside, discloses a circuit board slot adapted for selectively housing either a full vertical height circuit board or at least one smaller vertical height circuit board. Adapters have also been developed to achieve the goal of mounting two 3U circuit card assemblies in a 6U rack space while also providing heat removal. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,254,025, to Baldwin, discloses an apparatus that includes a first circuit module coupled to a second circuit module by an adapter, with the first module including a thermally conductive pathway that conducts heat to an edge.